


Marionette

by Haikatsu (Eustakiah)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Armin is simping over a crystal girl, Centric, F/M, Unrequited Crush, annie still inside the crystal, canonverse, confused feelings, not really beta read but we still die like men!!!1!, one-sided, s p o i l e r s ?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 05:40:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26468098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eustakiah/pseuds/Haikatsu
Summary: Where Armin questions the legitimacy of his feelings towards that crystallized girl.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Annie Leonhart, Bertolt Hoover/Annie Leonhart (mentioned)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	Marionette

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Marionete Autômata](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26467525) by [Eustakiah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eustakiah/pseuds/Eustakiah). 



> Heeeeeeeeeeeeey, how ya doin'?  
> I wrote this a long time ago, in partnership with the Otaku Squad Project  
> Hope you like it <3

It became routine at least once a week to go down to that dark, damp basement, where the only charm was the sparkling crystal that enveloped her. In fact, for Armin Arlet, it was almost like an uncontrollable need that could only be satisfied when he saw her again. His thoughts constantly ended up bringing the image of Leonhart to his head - whenever he felt it crossed the line, the young man concluded that it was time to pay a visit.

It was strange how, just down the stairs on the way, his heart filled with more anxiety than when he prepared for the battlefield. And when he saw Annie with a serene countenance, looking like a sleeping princess, even if she was that merciless traitor with poisonous eyes, the boy calmed down as he would do if all the wickedness in the world was momentarily gone.

He thought he knew a justification: since Berthold's memories mixed with his, he knew her from another angle. He couldn't feel hatred for her, not when part of him knew about the childhood lost by a warrior child. Annie had had no choice but to be born. She didn't choose the blood that she carried in her veins, let alone the burden that had been imposed on her back. In a way, Armin identified with Annie, and it was this empathy that made him think so much about the lonely girl.

But... He was wrong.

  
And he was either foolish not to notice, or too proud not to admit it. Maybe he just forgot that he was just a young man and that, despite all the chaos that surrounded his routine, he was still capable of falling in love.

The problem with the issue was the legitimacy of such feelings. Not even himself, such a rational person, was able to decipher the truth behind them or even when they had started.

He remembers when Annie, in the form of the Female Titan, looked into his eyes, the fear he had felt of pricking every strand of his blond hair. He clearly remembers when he challenged her to go underground, the terror he manifested through the cold sweat of his palms.

Now he looked at that same murderer, the one who mercilessly decimated dozens of companions and deceived his confidence, admired as if enjoying the sea breeze for the first time. It didn't make sense.

When did things change? Why did his heart beat fast, if not out of fear? He wanted her to listen to him, to talk to her one last time so that he would understand. He wanted her to have the answer to that question of hers:

_"Armin, when did you start looking at me like that?"_

Armin believed with conviction that it had happened when he discovered the truth about her identity. But at the moment, Armin was racking his brain in a maze of reasoning that led to the same dead end: maybe, just maybe, that happend for the first time when Berthold's thoughts became part of him.

Maybe, Armin is just a puppet of one who once thought freely, the reflection of the frustrated love of a poorly loved young man. He was disconcerted, not knowing if his own current self was not just the result of invisible ropes tied to his arm, whose movements were shaped by forces that could not be contained. And Armin feared that those feelings so intense of his new self were not really his, only manipulation derived from the memories of the deceased one.

But whether they were his or Berthold's, it might not matter too.

After all, Annie was still in the crystal, and her suitor's love was still unrequited.

**Author's Note:**

> btw  
> when i wrote this annie was still inside the crystal, so when the last chapters came out i was like "OOOOOOOOOOOOH SH!T SO HE REALLY LIKES HER?????"


End file.
